Tosta Mista

Peppy T.O. popsters Hooded Fang took their sweet time with their fab 2010 debut, Album, but they've been swift with the follow-up and already sound like a totally different band. Yet they're still big fun, and they've never been better. This is a brisk, rambunctious blast of Nuggets-esque garage-rock with an authentic air of jubilant ’60s naiveté and effortless Fang melodies flying all over the place. “ESP” and “Jubb” are go-go-tastic romps that sound like Jonathan Richman covering Them, “Tosta Mista” is an impossibly groovy, old-school R&B banger with some wonderfully bent and witty lyrics (“I've been wanderin' ‘round this place like a gypsy gnome”) and “Den of Love” is a sock-hop slow-dance waiting to happen. Hooded Fang's range was evident on Album, but this record's deft appropriation of proto-rock 'n' roll tropes and Phil Spector production tricks is going to surprise people. Suddenly, frontman Daniel Lee is shaping up to be one of Toronto's most formidable popsmiths. Might just make your summer. Top Track: “Tosta Mista.” A runaway train full of joy.
-Ben Rayner, Toronto Star